Hamza Ahmed Gudaji, a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and candidate for House of Representatives from Kazaure, Roni, Gwiwa and Yankwashi Federal Constituency of Jigawa State, in this interview with some editors said he wants to render selfless and exemplary service to his constituents. ZEBULON AGOMUO brings the excerpt:
What is the motivation behind your interest in trying to represent your constituency in the Federal House of Representatives in 2023?
To God be the glory; I won the nomination of my party the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to contest for an election into the House of Representatives to my constituency Kazaure, Roni, Gwiwa and Yankwashi Federal constituency in the forth coming 2023 general election. And in respect to my ambition and motivation; well, we all know that Nigeria is at the crossroads and no place is spared of the misrule and misgovernance of the All Progressives Congress (APC); therefore, I feel and thought I had my quota to contribute in righting the wrongs that have been perpetuated by the APC government, especially in the areas of economic mismanagement; of our security; the mishandling of our diversity, and the polarisation of the country. I thought you known I have a lot to contribute to solve or resolve some issues that have been weighing the country down for decades now; that is why I decided to contest.
Why are you running on the platform of the PDP; knowing your relationship with the late Dauda Birmah, who was a strong member of the APC before he died?
Well, you see Alhaji Dauda Birmah like you have said was a pillar of strength, when my father died, because he took me under his care; he educated me; he trained me and one of the cardinal trainings that he gave to me was to have a broad approach in life and to always be accommodating; to also try to engender a sense of belonging to anybody around you. I believe that it is the People’s Democratic Party that represents; it is the PDP that is able to accommodate all the diversities in Nigeria. It is the PDP that has a nationalistic outlook; it is the PDP that plays the inclusive rather than the exclusive kind of politics that the ruling party plays now. So, of course, my foray into the PDP has a lot to do with that and by the way APC treated him I don’t think anybody that associated with him should come close to APC because all the sacrifices he made for the APC was a waste of his time, energy and his resources because he spent over decade of his life, virtually politically worshiping ANPP and even the APC and the candidates, but you can see the way he was treated. We are not saying that politics is a game of personal favours or political patronage; however, we believed that before he died he has the capacity to contribute to the development of this country but we all know that he was not treated fairly. And of course, even before his demise, I had informed him of my decision and had told him that this is why I have gone the PDP way, and I had obtained his blessings and here we are so far, so good. And God willing, I am going to be making him proud and will be making my people proud.
So what will be your cardinal point of going to the National Assembly as a member representing your federal constituency?
Well, like I have told you I am a legal practitioner and I have experience in legislative matters because I have done some works for the National Assembly as an external legal partner and I have been consulted in some of this issues and I believe as a lawmaker I will be in a position like I have said to improve the socio-economic wellbeing of our people and I will also been in a position to foster national unity, and I will also be in a position to propose motions and legislations that will have a direct positive impact on my people and on my constituency like I said, especially in the areas of agriculture, healthcare, education and other empowerment initiatives and benefits that will be geared towards poverty alleviation and economic empowerment of our people.
How will you rate the performance of the All Progressives Congress (APC) government in Jigawa State in the last seven years under the leadership of Abubakar Badaru?
Well the truth of the matter is that the APC government in Jigawa State has not been doing things out of the box because when the administration came in it has complained of paucity of funds and it has complained of a very low revenue base and because of that he took a very convenient approach of saying that all he needed to do is to make sure he settles salary every month. And apart from that we have not been seeing much from the administration, especially in human capital development, infrastructural transformation of the state and the performance has not been as good as what happened during the PDP-led administration under our leader, His Excellency, Alhaji Sule Lamido. I believe that Jigawa as a new state is in dire need of programme and polices that can quickly drive a positive economic growth not only for the civil servants but across board. We have seen some initiatives in agriculture; however, I will say that what obtains on ground does not match some of the rhetoric that we have heard. Really, we should have gone far in agriculture. We should have been pratising serious mechanised agriculture in Jigawa State because we have a swamp of arable land and we can grow quite a number of crops. I would love to see specific attention to that by the administration in terms of serious funding so as to actualise that and then I would have loved to see that the ICT programme initiated by the first civilian administration in 1999 because I would have loved to see that that initiative is seriously pursed because ICT is one of the main drivers of the modern economy across the globe. However, I cannot point out one thing that I will say this is something that is being done out of vision to really transform Jigawa State economically. So, this is really my candid approach and I believe that for some time, I think that government should sit down and think and go beyond payment of salary and see what should be done to spur development to be able to create wealth for our people because the level of poverty is alarming and frightening because people can barely afford their daily bread. So, somebody that hasn’t fed you shouldn’t expect that person to pay attention to education and other meaningful activities in life; so it is very important that the Jigawa State government come out with an economic blue print for the transformation, upliftment and development of our people and that is my take.
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So, are you saying that the government under Abubakar Badaru leadership has failed the people of Jigawa State?
In my own assessment I am not satisfied with the level of performance and development because my joy is to see our people live above poverty and see our people afford the basic necessities of life, both cloths and shelter and that is my joy. And whenever I visit my constituency, especially when you go to the rural areas you will be shocked at what you will see. Therefore, my expectation has not been met.
Very soon active campaign will start towards the 2023 general election and there are three major presidential contenders for Aso Rock. What is your take on the chances of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, of All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peter Obi of Labour Party?
Well, I will stand to correct you because in my side of the country there are two contenders and there is no presence of Labour Party in my constituency. Labour Party does not have a nationalistic base and what we have in Jigawa State and in my constituency is the People’s Democratic Party. The party that is deeply entrenched in all nooks and crannies of Jigawa State- every unit, ward and every local government of the state- is the PDP. And of course, we also have the presence of APC, but with every due respect the Labour Party does not have any structure or any presence where I come from in Jigawa State. And permit me to divert and say one or two things about His Excellency Peter Obi, the former governor of Anambra State and Labour Party candidate. We don’t doubt his competence. We don’t doubt his affection for the country; however, we believe also that politics should be played decorum and principles. Immediately Mr. Peter Obi left office in Anambra State, we all learnt about his laudable achievements while in office. And you know that Atiku Abubakar went against the wishes PDP establishment, governors and stakeholders to nominate Peter Obi as his running mate in 2018. And you know Atiku did that with a level of conviction because he has looked at the track record of Peter Obi, his performance and the kind of value that he would bring to their ticket and that was why they won the election in 2019 though what happened after that now is history and that brought Peter Obi to national limelight.
What are chances of PDP winning the governorship race with Mustapha Lamido as its candidate come 2023 in Jigawa State?
Well, I will like to take you back to history and explain to you the phenomenon of the man Sule Lamido. Sule Lamido has been an active politician and has been actively participating in politics right from 1999 election. But he has always taken politics as a way of life because he thinks, breaths, sleeps politics and virtually everything about politics. In Jigawa State PDP in particular, Sule Lamido is political institution. He has trained and retrained so many political heirs and fans. He knows what is good to achieve in politics and abhors corruption, misgovernance and abhors politics without people’s interest. Now, having a father like this will automatically educate you politically and imbibe some political values in you. Now, our candidate Alhaji Mustapha Lamido having a father like Sule Lamido was born and trained by such a political heavy weight and has been trained in the line of politics, trained to serve people and has been trained to manage people. And that is why our candidate Mustapha Lamido since 2003 has been part and parcel of setting up of party structure; so you can imagine the level of experience he has acquired from 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019 all under the watchful eye of his father. Therefore, he is equipped and prepared to partake and participate in politics because he has been given the opportunity by God. And he is sufficiently educated; has the temperament and also the idea of what the youths want and how to develop and manage modern economy that revolves around ICT on youth’s employment, empowerment.
